JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Wesley Monroe is serving time for felony battery. But on Saturday, he enjoyed eight hours of freedom. Monroe didn't returned to the Dinsmore Work Release Center after his shift at a local fast food restaurant.
Action News has learned Monroe is the fourth inmate to escape the Dinsmore center in the last three weeks. The Florida Department of Corrections says the inmates are not a risk to society and usually return to their work release program. Monroe returned the same day he wandered off.
According to the DOC, the inmates who are part of the work release program have served most of their time behind bars and are being given the chance to rehabilitate before entering back into the community.
"These folks are at a point where we believe and we're giving them the chance to show us and society that they're ready to be responsible. They're ready to contribute. They're ready to make money. They're ready to pay taxes," says Ann Howard, spokesperson for the DOC.
Howard says the DOC trusts the inmates to return when they're supposed to return. If they don't, they risk going back to prison.
"This is a matter of honor and responsibility. You go to work in the morning. You come back in the evenings. We do go and stop by their place of employment," says Howard.
According to the DOC, more and more inmates over the last decade have been escaping prisons, work camps and work release programs. In 2010, 150 inmates escaped or wandered off. In 2011, that number jumped to 167.
As for Wesley Monroe, he's now charged with escaping from any prison, jail, road camp or other penal institution.
